This isn't true! We all have the ability to be creative - it is a God-given gift - but you might not be noticing or enjoying your particular form of creativity. It's important that you become aware of which forms of creativity are fun and fulfilling for you, because expressing your creativity is a powerful way of feeling filled up and joyful within.
Creativity naturally pours out of my three-year old grandson, as it does out of all little children who are given the opportunity to express it. When I was spending time with him recently, he was playing with a children's microscope that has little slides with various bugs and other little creatures that he can slide in. He slid in a little shrimp and then starting running around the room saying, "Grandma, the shrimp is in the heater! Get it out!" Once I coaxed out the little shrimp, it now magically appeared under the table, or in the lamp, or back in the heater! He delighted in running around pretending this little shrimp was everywhere and engaging me in his magical game, laughing as he thought up new place for the shrimp to hide! I could see the pure joy he experiences in expressing his creativity.
How can you express your creativity in everyday ways?
Perhaps you really love scrapbooking or making photo albums, creating ways of enjoying memories. Do you enjoy setting a beautiful table, or creating a lovely flower arrangement from flowers that you grow? Do you love creating a wonderful garden? How about creating a bulletin board in your home or office for others to enjoy? Perhaps you just enjoy putting on music and allowing your body to dance around the room. Do you love being in your workshop, making things out of wood for yourself and others? One man I know decided to express his creativity by carving a totem pole, even though it was something he had never done and had no idea how to do it!
Maybe picking out fabrics and making clothing or blankets is fun for you, or knitting or crocheting for yourself, family and friends. Do you have fun making cards with stamps? Maybe you enjoy making collages with pictures from magazines.
You might be a person who expresses your creativity through your kindness or through your humor. Perhaps volunteering is a form of creativity for you. Perhaps you have learned to express your creativity in saying something kind to each person with whom you are in contact throughout a day.
The point is, all of us have many ways in which we can express our creativity, and expressing it is vital to our wellbeing. It is a wonderful form of play. If you spend all of your time just getting things done and do not allow time for your everyday creativity, you will not feel alive and content within. The old saying, "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy" applies to all of us. We feel dull inside when we don't allow time for play, for creativity, for kindness to ourselves and others.
Creative expression will occur naturally when you open your heart to yourself and others, allowing the gift of creativity to flow through you from the spiritual source that is always available to you. New ideas are always waiting to be expressed through you - you just need to open to them and allow the time for them. When you do, you will feel the joy and fulfillment that comes from everyday creativity!
Dewitt Jones Everyday Creativity
I wonder all the time. For instance, I wonder...
Why Don't We Value Our Creativity?
I'm convinced we don't value our innate creativity.
The question that comes to mind then is, "why not?"
I think the very first, simplest explanation for that is that we're trained not to.
Think about it. We're taught, from the very earliest age, not to brag, not to be prideful, not to be "conceited."
We're not supposed to be too proud of ourselves, or think too highly of our accomplishments.
Okay, I can see that, to a point. Those are good behavioral guidelines for getting along in the world.
But when they're taken to an extreme, I think they're bad behavioral guidelines for getting along *with ourselves.*
I don't know who said, "It ain't braggin' if you really done it." I wish whoever it was had said it louder, because most people didn't hear.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with taking pleasure in being good at something. But many of us feel, deep inside, that there is something *extremely* wrong with it.
Even as a writer, forced to self-promote in order to eat, I find myself "not wanting to brag." I have to remind myself that if I don't tell people how great my book is and that I think it can help them, who's going to do it?
I think it's natural and normal not to think of yourself as creative. I think it's part of living in our society to not notice when something you do is spectacular.
I think it's a little sad, but it's normal.
I guess the next step, then, after realizing that we don't value our creativity enough, and why we don't, is to think about whether it's really important to value that creative genius we all have.
**The Importance of Valuing Creativity**
There's a part of me, the two-year-old with a big ego, who just wants to declare, "It's important because it's important!" and have done with it.
But let's not do it that way. Let's look at three very real reasons why valuing our creativity is important.
1. If we don't value ourselves, who else is going to?
It's very hard to expect to be treated well if we're not able to appreciate our own talents and treat ourselves well.
It's even harder to gain recognition for our efforts, no matter how uncreative they may seem to us, if we're not willing to recognize that we've done something worth recognizing.
2. If we don't value ourselves, we make it much harder for other people to value us.
I'm talking, in part, about making it hard for people to express their appreciation for our gifts, if we don't know how to accept that appreciation. You know how hard it is to give a compliment to someone who can't take a compliment.
But I'm talking about more than that. I'm also talking about monetary value. If we don't put the proper value on our work, how can anyone pay us what we're worth? And if they're not paying us what we're worth, how can they appreciate what they're getting?
Think about this. People don't generally buy five dollar paintings to hang in their ritzy homes, even if the five buck art is as "good" as some of the stuff they pay thousands of dollars for. They don't value it.
3. Our children learn what we teach them.
If you don't have kids, you can skip this part. But if you do, think about this. Do you want your kids to think of their marvelous creativity the way you think of yours?
Both Margaret Paul, Ph.d. & Angie Dixon are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
Margaret Paul, Ph.d. has sinced written about articles on various topics from Parenting, Divorce and Infidelity and Cure Anxiety. Margaret Paul, Ph.D. best-selling author of eight books, and co-creator of the powerful Inner Bonding healing process. Visit her web site for a FREE Inner Bonding course:
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